Last updated : July 14, 2025
Over-the-road truck drivers can fall prey to loneliness and boredom because they spend a lot of time alone. Those emotions fall into the long list of reasons given as to why people use drugs. Current statistics released by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) continue to support the fact that truckers have drugs in their system while they drive. Moreover, evidence shows they aren’t following through with the return to duty process.
In the first three months of 2023, 9,344 drivers tested positive for marijuana. That plays out to be 58% of all the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) drug test results. The report analyzed data through the end of March 2023. But further noted that the total number of drivers having tested positive for marijuana since the Clearinghouse opened in January 2021 is 110,856.
They aren’t even signing up
Now, nearing the end of 2023, further data is proving that, while the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse database is getting drug-using drivers off the road, they aren’t going back to work. In fact, according to FMCSA, they aren’t even attempting to get the return to duty wheels turning at all.
This is concerning because the nation is amid a driver shortage. Moreover, the problem is exacerbated now. Why? Well, according to FMCSA Clearinghouse stats, 146,000 drivers aren’t cleared for work. This number has grown from 129,100 at the end of March 2023. Moreover, positive marijuana results, again, account for a large portion of the increase.
Where are they going?
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) recently published a report focusing on driver marijuana test failures. It doesn’t provide much information as to what happens to the drivers after receiving a positive test result and being removed from service though. Are they going to work for small transport companies not required to hold to DOT mandates? Are they seeking entirely new careers and waving goodbye to transport entirely?
After employers supply them with the required list of DOT-qualified SAPs, drivers aren’t reaching out to any of them. It’s throwing a huge wrench in the works of the industry because we need drivers to deliver the goods.
The normal process
Upon being notified by a Medical Review Officer (MRO) that they have tested positive for drugs, drivers are immediately removed from service until they complete the return to duty process. Employers are required to provide drivers with a list of DOT-qualified Substance Abuse Professionals (SAPs). Drivers are, then, responsible for deciding which SAP they will work with through the process.
The designated SAP evaluates the driver and, afterward, provides recommendations for education and treatment. After the SAP determines the driver has completed the requirements successfully, the driver is cleared to take the return to duty drug test. Negative test results are reported to the FMCSA Clearinghouse and the driver’s status is reported as “not prohibited” enabling them to resume safety-sensitive functions—that being climbing behind the wheel and hitting the road.
Is the industry going up in smoke?
The ATRI study doesn’t zero in on marijuana legalization playing a huge role in this growing problem, but the increase in positive drug tests does coincide with states making recreational use legal all across the nation. Safety-sensitive employers are federally mandated and, at this time, marijuana is completely illegal at the federal level.
There are no “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” about it.
The issue coming into play here is that marijuana metabolites remain in the body long after the effects of using the drug have worn off. Weeks, sometimes months, after someone stops smoking, they can still test positive for it. That’s mainly because fat cells attract marijuana metabolites. And we all know how tenacious those little buggers can be, right?
However, until the federal government legalizes marijuana or a test for current impairment becomes widely available, it stays on the test.
An effort to combat the problem
Transport Topics, a popular industry news site, recently published an article warning that the FMCSA is putting safety-sensitive employees on notice. Toward the end of 2024, drivers who test positive for drug use will be placed on prohibited driving status and will lose their commercial driver’s license (CDL). They will also be banned from being issued any learner’s permits until the return to duty process is completed.
“A driver with a drug-and-alcohol program violation is prohibited from performing safety-sensitive functions, including operating CMVs, for any DOT-regulated employer until the return-to-duty process is complete,” according to a notice put out by the FMCSA on November 28, 2023. The notice went on to specify, “By November 18, 2024, as part of new federal regulations, drivers with a ‘prohibited’ status in the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse will lose or be denied their state-issued commercial driving privileges.”
They aren’t messing around.
Drugs have no place on the road
No one should be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they operate a motor vehicle. Truckers, especially, should realize the dangers involved with failing to comply with that vein of thinking. The horrors that ensue for families involved—no matter who is responsible for the accident—should never occur.
Safety issues were the reason that the DOT began mandating employers of the safety-sensitive workforce to drug test employees in the first place. The department wanted to do everything possible to keep Americans safer.
Drug use adversely affects both motor and cognitive thinking skills. People should not be driving in that condition. They shouldn’t be working the line in a factory in that condition. In short, they shouldn’t be in that condition at all. Showing up at work under the influence is wrong. Both the user, as well as anyone working with or around them, are at a greater risk of being involved in an accident. And, sometimes, accidents prove fatal.
Employers who drug test do it for safety’s sake. No one deserves to go to work and wind up in the hospital. Or worse. Especially if it’s due to a co-worker’s drug use. The same goes for American citizens who are traveling the highways and byways.
If truck drivers aren’t completing the return-to-duty process because they won’t stop using drugs, it’s best if they choose not to drive commercially. But, what about those they come into contact with in their new profession? What might happen then?
